Call to engage with countries linked to state capture
Former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas said SA needs to engage more with the countries who allegedly received large amounts of state capture cash “around their role in advancing and deepening state capture in this country”.
Jonas was speaking at the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation 10th anniversary gala dinner‚ where he interrogated the mechanics of state capture‚ and evaluated how state-owned enterprises were the perfect conduits for such corruption.
“State capture cannot succeed without externalisation of money‚” he said.
“So in all countries where state capture has been effective‚ it has been effective precisely because there have been powerful instruments of externalising resources that are stolen.
“State-owned companies‚ all of them … they have service providers all over the world. That explains why Hong Kong‚ Dubai become crucial‚ and some countries that we embrace very well at the moment need to be engaged more around their role in advancing and deepening state capture.”
China and Dubai have both emerged as powerful role players in alleged state capture at Transnet and Eskom‚ and the National Prosecuting Authority is seeking information from the UAE about the transfer of millions allegedly linked to the Estina Dairy Project scam.
China South Rail scored a R25bn locomotive deal with Transnet‚ with Gupta-linked shell companies allegedly scoring R5bn in kickbacks.
“State-owned enterprises are very useful in that sense‚ because they make it easy to externalise resources‚ and that’s why the state capture project‚ almost 80% of it‚ focused on state-owned enterprises‚” Jonas said on Saturday.
He added SOEs were also ef- fective conduits for state capture because of their governance practices.
“Every new minister can appoint a board, and there have been no clear guidelines about how this is done. So‚ in SOEs, once you appoint a pliable board‚ it will be at your service.”
While the boards of companies in the private sector typically saw their role as serving the interests of the companies‚ he said‚ the boards of SOEs would be focused on serving the shareholder – the minister.
“So part of the agenda should be about changing those things.”
Jonas‚ who testified at the Zondo Commission about how a Gupta brother had offered him R600m, will face crossexamination in the coming weeks.
The Kathrada Foundation honoured Jonas‚ former and current government communications heads Themba Maseko and Phumla Williams‚ former SARS commissioner Ivan Pillay and Independent Police Investigative Directorate head Robert McBride for their roles in opposing state capture.